For the civil use of this facility after 1973, see Laredo International Airport

Laredo International Airport

-Air cargo operators & destinations :* ABX Air * FedEx Express * UPS Airlines -Accidents and incidents:...

Laredo Air Force Base is an inactivated United States Air Force

United States Air Force

The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

 near Laredo, Texas

Laredo, Texas

Laredo is the county seat of Webb County, Texas, United States, located on the north bank of the Rio Grande in South Texas, across from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. According to the 2010 census, the city population was 236,091 making it the 3rd largest on the United States-Mexican border,...

. First activated in 1942 as Laredo Army Airfield, the facility instructed recruits in aerial gunnery during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, then as a United States Air Force base in the 1950s and 1960s, performed Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) as part of Air Training Command

Air Training Command

Air Training Command is a former major command of the United States Army Air Forces and United States Air Force. ATC came into being as a redesignation of the Army Air Forces Training Command on July 1, 1946...

. The base was inactivated in 1973 as part of the drawdown after the Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

.

History

Opened on 23 September 1942, Laredo AAF was part of the Eastern Flying Training Command under the Army Air Forces Training Command at Fort Worth AAF, Texas. The 2d Aerial Gunnery Training Group of seven squadrons (1021st - 1027th Gunnery Training) taught aerial gunnery to new cadets primarily for B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator

B-24 Liberator

The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and a small number of early models were sold under the name LB-30, for Land Bomber...

 duty, training on the .50 and .30 caliber Browning machine guns and their firing platforms. In 1944, the 2126th Army Air Force Base Unit became the host unit at the airfield, switching training to B-29 Superfortress

B-29 Superfortress

The B-29 Superfortress is a four-engine propeller-driven heavy bomber designed by Boeing that was flown primarily by the United States Air Forces in late-World War II and through the Korean War. The B-29 was one of the largest aircraft to see service during World War II...

, and briefly to B-32 Dominator

B-32 Dominator

The Consolidated B-32 Dominator was a heavy bomber made for United States Army Air Forces during World War II, and has the distinction of being the last Allied aircraft to be engaged in combat during World War II. It was developed in parallel with the Boeing B-29 Superfortress as a fallback design...

 instruction. Classes in aerial gunnery were ended in September 1945 with the war ended.
The field became inactive in late 1945 and the property reverted to the city of Laredo, which used it as a municipal airport until 1950. That year, the base was reactivated and renamed Laredo Air Force Base in April 1952 to provide intermediate and advanced flight training for jet pilots, including pilot trainees from 24 countries.

The initial host and training unit stationed at Laredo AFB was the 3640th Pilot Training Wing, being equipped with T-28 Trojan

T-28 Trojan

The North American Aviation T-28 Trojan is a piston-engined military trainer aircraft used by the United States Air Force and United States Navy beginning in the 1950s...

 propeller and T-33 Shooting Star

T-33 Shooting Star

The Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star is an American-built jet trainer aircraft. It was produced by Lockheed and made its first flight in 1948, piloted by Tony LeVier. The T-33 was developed from the Lockheed P-80/F-80 starting as TP-80C/TF-80C in development, then designated T-33A. It was used by the...

 jet trainers. In the early 1960s, the Air Training Command transitioned to the Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) concept, where student pilots would take all flight training from basic through advanced at a single base. In 1964, the T-38 Talon

T-38 Talon

The Northrop T-38 Talon is a twin-engine supersonic jet trainer. It was the world's first supersonic trainer and is also the most produced. The T-38 remains in service as of 2011 in air forces throughout the world....

 became the primary trainer for the unit, and the T-41 Mescalero

T-41 Mescalero

The Cessna T-41 Mescalero is a military version of the popular Cessna 172 used by the United States Air Force and Army as well as the armed forces of various other countries as a pilot training aircraft.-Design and development:...

 and T-37 Tweet aircraft were included in the flight training school.

In 1972, the 38th Flying Training Wing

38th Combat Support Wing

The 38th Combat Support Wing is an inactive wing of the United States Air Force. Its last assignment was with Third Air Force , being inactivated on 1 May 2007 at Ramstein Air Base, Germany....

 (38 FTW) replaced the 3640th PTW. However, as the Vietnam War began to scale down, the Air Force recognized that defense budgets and pilot training requirements would be reduced. As a result, several UPT bases were identified for closure, to include Laredo AFB and Webb AFB in Texas and Craig AFB in Alabama. In December 1973, the 38 FTW was transferred without personnel or equipment to Moody AFB, Georgia where it absorbed the resources and personnel of the 3350th Flying Training Wing. With the 38 FTW's departure, Laredo AFB was closed and turned over to the City of Laredo. Today the facility is known as Laredo International Airport

Laredo International Airport

-Air cargo operators & destinations :* ABX Air * FedEx Express * UPS Airlines -Accidents and incidents:...

.

See also

• Air Training Command
  Air Training Command
  Air Training Command is a former major command of the United States Army Air Forces and United States Air Force. ATC came into being as a redesignation of the Army Air Forces Training Command on July 1, 1946...
  
  
• Texas World War II Army Airfields
  Texas World War II Army Airfields
  In today's United States Air Force, many personnel have spent some of their military service being trained in Texas during World War II. Be it basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base, technical training, officer training, or flight training at other facilities across the state...
  
  

External links

• Thole, Lou (1999), Forgotten Fields of America : World War II Bases and Training, Then and Now - Vol. 2. Publisher: Pictorial Histories Pub, ISBN 1575100517
• Laredo Army Air Field Manual